Pailebot Santa Eulàlia, 1918. Details from ship modeller's prospective.

[ShipmodelIdeas]

Rigging - Channels, Dead-eyes, Gaff and Driver boom


Channels & Dead-eyes
There isn't much I can say about channels and dead-eyes here. However, since these elements are very visible on each model, I think it's worthwhile to see how they look on a real ship. The only thing worth noting is that all the rigging now, given that the ship obviously has not sailed for a while, looks much more 'tired' than it did when it was newly restored and began its new era voyages. Here are some pictures from the Book, showcasing those golden times. Compare them with other pictures I took recently.

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Now, take a look at these freshly taken pictures and see the difference. For example, notice the dead-eyes painted black. Although, in general, I think all the ropes are tied correctly, she would hardly manage at sea without a thorough inspection and significant renovation of all parts of the rigging.

Channels and dead-eyes from outside (starboard):

Fore channel, dead-eyes and lower part of shrouds


Main channel, dead-eyes and lower part of shrouds


Mizzen channel, dead-eyes and lower part of shrouds



Fore dead-eyes and some ropes, starboard from inside:


and portside from inside:



A couple of dead-eyes closeups:

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Gaff and driver boom

Now lets' say a couple of words about Gaff and Boom. This is just a good case to compare classic literature and reality

This is what zu Mondfeld says about how the gaff and boom were fixed to the mast:

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"In the second half of the 18th century the mizen yard was cut short at the mast, and the remaining upper part was fixed to the mast with a fork known as the jaws. A horizontal boom was then fitted at the bottom of the mast to enable the gaff sail to be fully deployed. This a ended in jaws, which rested on a saddle on the mast. The gaff and the driver boom jaws were held to the mast with a simple parral with trucks.

In the 19th century the jaws were superseded by goosenecks. The driver boom sometimes carried foot ropes, and various means of fitting a studding sail or ringtail were also tried. Like the lateen yard, the gaff and driver boom were not symmetrical around their thickest point, which is a point worth noting if you are aiming at an outstandingly accurate model."

But on the real Santa Eulàlia, built in the 20th century (even though today what we see is just a replica, many pictures of this and similar ships remain), we can clearly see jaws, but not the joint called 'goosenecks'. It's also worth noting that on ships of this type, all masts (in this case, all three) had similar rigging and sails.

Here is the picture from the Book:


And some other pictures of gaffs and related ropes, I took
(the coin is 2 EUR):








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This is what I wanted to share today.
Have a great time of day and stay tuned

...to be continued...

back to the content​

 

[Uwek]

Great information of the details - a very good documentation

 

[ShipmodelIdeas]

Great information of the details - a very good documentation

Dear Uwe,
Thank you indeed, and my pleasure.

Good maritime museums can really be a treasure trove for ship modelers. Even in our era of digitalization, you truly understand how much you can gain from a museum only when you are physically there. And the MMB has a lot to tell and show on site.

Rgds,
Max

 

[ShipmodelIdeas]

Sails

My materials are slowly coming to an end.
There are just a few things left that I wanted to share with you.
One of them is a brief comment on the sails of this ship.

This is yet another example of how fragmented historical information can become, even after just a century. The story of the masts and other elements of the ship, which were assembled from separate pieces sourced from many different places, illustrates this well. A similar thing happened with the sails. If not for a single old piece of paper—a manual sketch donated to the museum by one of the grandsons of the master who sewed sails for Carmen Flores—it would be much more difficult to assert that the sails of Santa Eulàlia are close to the original ones. Here is this drawing:

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The sails are depicted schematically, so reconstructors have to consider many details before beginning to sew. However, it is definitely much much better than having nothing at all.

As you may have seen from pictures in previous posts, the sails currently rigged on Santa Eulàlia are not easily accessible for direct observation and photography. However, in the hold, I found another set of sails.

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I didn't have the chance to unfold and spread them out, but that wasn't necessary—I saw everything I wanted.

As a hobbyist skipper, I've had many opportunities to work with sails on contemporary charter yachts. But it was particularly interesting to observe the construction elements of 'old style' sails.

Books about ship modeling provide many details about sails. However, without seeing them in reality, it's really difficult to imagine the scale of elements and fabric texture. Questions arise, such as: What fabric or other material should be chosen to achieve a realistic-looking sail? Or how wide should the leech be?

Kit manufacturers often include ready-made sails in their kits, but in my opinion, they might be better off not doing so. In many cases, a good-looking kit can be spoiled by the way the sails are made. Perhaps the reason behind this is that many of those manufacturers are not frequent visitors to maritime museums.

A good remedy for these issues is simply to seize every opportunity to see and touch real sails yourself.

And here, I would just like to share with you a visual part of what I experienced.

This picture, e.g., gives imagination of the sail thickness.
And definitely it is clear that it will be hard to find a right fabric for such a model in 1/72.
(the coin is the same 2 EUR)



Here you may see the edge of sail and the size of fabric texture.
Also you may estimate a rope diameter.





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That's it for today.
Have a great time of day and stay tuned

...still to be continued...

back to the content​

 

[ShipmodelIdeas]

The anchoring

Earlier we mentioned the construction of the capstan, which certainly helps to handle anchors.
And today we'll have a look at anchors and stowage scheme.

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This is what the Book says: "The original pailebot had two anchors of the admiralty type, placed behind the davits. It was not easy to determine what the weight of those irons must have been, but after some investigations and conversations with the Maritime Captaincy we came to the conclusion that two anchors would be enough, one 300 kg and another 150 kg. We acquired two brand new pieces.

Moreover, the pailebot carried an extra anchor for emergencies, known as 'the hope anchor'. In this case an old anchor weighing 150 kg had been a donation by the first captain of the pailebot, Alfons Echegaray. The anchors hang from about 150 m of chain for each shroud, and 100 m of nylon rope for emergency anchoring."

This one I found in the hold.
It is probably the aforementioned 'hope anchor.'
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The available drawing and the Book do not offer many details about the stowage scheme. The drawing is very straightforward.

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Therefore, I turned to our esteemed friend zu Mondfeld for a more detailed explanation. However, all the diagrams there appeared more complex than what we see on Santa Eulàlia. For example, as of now, I haven't found any signs of davits for lifting and holding the anchor.

Nonetheless, I include a picture from zu Mondfeld here for additional reference.

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Now let us see how all this does look in reality.

Here is a port-side Cat-head with tackle and block. You may clearly see some elements of stowage.

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And one more interesting angle. Here you may see how the anchor's palm (top of the image) is fixed:

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Let's move to the star-board. Since I took these pictures from the peer, there was some distance and you may see the general picture.

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This is what I have to say about the anchoring for the moment.

Have a great time of day and stay tuned

...to be continued...

back to the content​

 

[ShipmodelIdeas]

... and what now occurs to me – upon closer inspection, you can see the cathead is constructed as a multi-layered wooden piece with iron plates on the sides.

And what I'm thinking now – perhaps in some instances, this could be a method I use to make a cathead for a model. Instead of drilling complicated slots for sheaves, it might be a viable alternative to laminate the cathead from separate thin wooden layers. It's something I'll definitely need to think-over and try out once.

 

[Uwek]

... and what now occurs to me – upon closer inspection, you can see the cathead is constructed as a multi-layered wooden piece with iron plates on the sides.

And what I'm thinking now – perhaps in some instances, this could be a method I use to make a cathead for a model. Instead of drilling complicated slots for sheaves, it might be a viable alternative to laminate the cathead from separate thin wooden layers. It's something I'll definitely need to think-over and try out once.

This way is often done .....